ALMOST THERE!! My book, Elmer Left, is nearly on Amazon for your reading pleasure 😉 In the meantime, here is another excerpt to whet your appetite. Bon apetit.
Three o’clock a.m. and the old man stirs. He stretches. He wriggles slowly out of his sleeping bag like a caterpillar, inch-by-inch. The boy next to him shifts; he moans. The old man freezes. The moan stops. Breathe in, lungs expand. Breathe out, lungs deflate. Keep wriggling. Inch-by-inch-by-inch-by-inch-by-inch.
He’s a stealthy jungle cat; he’s a stalking wolf, moving silently towards his prey. His prey: the door. The door across the gym. He reaches the end of the bag and lets it slip past his feet. He gets up, stretches, feels the hair stand up on his skin. He’s nervous, excited, anxious. His stomach is twisted into a tight, hard ball. He finds his shoes; he finds his duffel bag. Jungle cats don’t have duffle bags. Oh well.
He sneaks towards the door, touches the handle, cracks it open slightly and feels the cool night air on his face. Pause. He can’t do it. Not quite. He can’t walk through the door. Something invisible, something invisible and strong, is pulling him back, pulling him back towards his sleeping bag. An unresolved matter, a guilt-soaked feeling. He tip-toes back to the now three-pronged star on the floor. He bends down where the heads meet. Green eyes stare at him from the dark. They glow as if they’re producing their own light. Elmer jumps.
Grace smiles, sits up. Zach stirs, looks up. Levi follows suit. The three-pronged star has risen.
Elmer lowers his body until his hip-bones are seated in the center of the star. He puts his arms awkwardly at his sides, moves his mouth, tries to speak. But speaking isn’t right, so he stays silent. Grace understands. She reaches for his thin body, encompasses it in her arms. Zach leans over and lends his arms as well. Levi gets up. He doesn’t quite understand, but he knows this feeling. It’s the feeling of joy mixed with sadness. It’s the feeling of goodbye-good luck-I’ll see you later. He spreads his arms as wide as they will go so he touches each adult, one-two-three.
They sit on the gym floor a while, letting emotions pass through and around their arms. Then Levi lets go. Then Zach. Then Grace. Elmer is sitting alone now. Bare, cold. He emerges from the middle of the little group, finds his strength, rises. Rises like the phoenix from the ash. A chick again, his whole life ahead of him. He strides for the door.
Author: KateBitters
Kate Bitters is a Minneapolis-based author and freelance writer. She is the author of Elmer Left, Ten Thousand Lines, and He Found Me. One of her proudest/nerdiest moments was when Neil Gaiman read one of her short stories on stage at the Fitzgerald Theater.